A Star Is Born (1954)

Purely Joyful Movie!

Instant Favorite.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It's hard to believe a mainstream film made as late as 1954 has strands of lost footage, yet that is the case with A Star Is Born. The inserts of production photographs over the surviving audio track in the restored version is a mildly irritating, so I can just hope and wait that an uncut version of the film will surface one day.A Star is Born is the ultimate showcase for the incomparable talent that is Judy Garland. The film's title couldn't be more apt as this is the role she was born to play in the film her career had been building up to. Every song to come out of her mouth is sang with such emotional intensity, and with this being as much a drama as it is a musical, Garland acts her little heart like never before with her monologue at the end of film always leaves me stunned. Her performance is surely contributed by the movie very evidently tapping into Garland's own past insecurities; such as the scene with Esther and the makeup department men.As much as A Star Is Born is Garland's big moment in the sun, it is also one of the high points of James Mason's career in a performance which is nothing short of magnificent (thanks in part to that heavenly voice of his). The character of Norman Maine is right out of a classic tragedy; a man who has accepted his doom rather than fighting against it. He is a tragic figure wearing a mask while joking and makes light about his failing career and his dependence on alcohol. His only remaining hope is that his name will continue to be remembered through the success of his wife's career (a career from a star which he created) if he dies he will continue to exist through his wife. George Cukor had tackled this material before, first in What Price Hollywood? (1932) and later in Dinner at Eight (1933) in which John Barrymore played the alcoholic, washed up actor Larry Renault. Like Norman Maine, Renault succumbs to the bottle, although has a demise without any optimistic ending that Norman Maine has. The other real standout member of the cast is Jack Carson as Matt Libby the publicity department executive. Carson often played roles such as PR agents but it's not hard to see why as the man has the born look of a con man.There is real movie magic within the structure as well as individual moments throughout of A Star Is Born. The entire first act for example takes place over the course of one night and within this single portion of the film we have a whole gauntlet of human emotion (fear, uncertainty, pity, joy, optimism). That scene in which Norman meets Esther for the first time and writes on the wall with lipstick has so much more poignancy when watching the film again.With The Man That Got Away number, the song itself is amazing but the setting really sells it; a band playing in the early hours of the morning in a club after it's closed, with the chairs on the table and the lights dimmed, just playing in order to unwind. Not to mention Garland's vocals, just incredible. Likewise the scene in which Norman tells Esther to stay behind and start a Hollywood career to a backdrop of city lights - you can feel the world on her shoulder. There is also the publicity department sequence in which Esther is thrown from person to person only to literally end up where she started at the beginning of the scene. I can't quite put my finger on it but I do smell a metaphor here. For the final portion of the film it goes right into classic melodrama territory, taking place in a home by the sea with the sound of crashing waves and hard winds.It's impressive considering this was George Cukor's first film in widescreen, his first film in colour plus his first musical, yet watching the film you would he was already a long established master of these forms in a movie littered with eye pleasing compositions and a three hour run time which feels shorter than it is. A Star Is Born is a great movie to have playing in the background to enhance of the atmosphere of the room or just listen to the highly lush film score; I can happily listen to orchestral variations of The Man that Got Away over and over again. Likewise the film's use of locations in L.A. as well as the Warner Bros studio makes the film a time capsule of Hollywood circa 1954.Like Singin' in the Rain, A Star Is Born is a movie which satirises Hollywood with its exposure of the actions of publicity departments and the lengths they go to in order to retain their public relations, however at the same time it is a movie which celebrates Hollywood; an ideal balance between celebration and self- deprecation. A Star Is Born is an ecstasy explosion of old Hollywood glamour; a world of spotlights, big bands, big costumes, high end nightclubs, back stage drama and the extravagance that comes with it. Likewise the number Born in a Trunk is Warner's attempt to create the type of impressionistic ballet sequence which MGM had perfected - and they certainly succeed, with movies like this it's hard to look away from the screen.

...and STAR is one of them.What an enormous talent... She was playing against herself the whole way through... More autobiographical than she ever could know...And only Frances - Judy - could do it.It took along time for me to see this, passing on most musicals as I tend to do. But, I understand it better, than if I'd ever had seen it earlier in my life.

Goodish drama, but massively padded. Central story is interesting, though has a large air of inevitability and predictability about it. Biggest negative, however, is the massive amount of padding in the movie: many scenes seem overly drawn out or plain unnecessary. The biggest culprits are the musical numbers (though I may be biased: I am not a fan of musicals at all). Not only do they make the movie excessive in duration, but ruin the momentum of the plot.The movie could easily have been a tight 90-110 minute drama, instead of the 3-hour odyssey it is, simply by editing some scenes and leaving out the musical numbers (OK, not all - some are useful as means to demonstrate Vicki Lester's talent).Decent performances. James Mason's was the standout, especially as he only appears for the dramatic scenes - no musical fluff from him. Plus he clearly has the greatest gravitas and pure acting ability of all the performers. Judy Garland is OK, but mostly there for her singing.

Taken as a whole, this film is definitely not the classic that it is reputed to be. On the plus side, James Mason gives what may be the finest performance of his career, and that makes this film watchable. He effortlessly succeeds as a movie star playing a movie star, which is considerably more difficult than one might expect. If you don't believe me, watch Jack Palance play a movie star in The Big Knife. The story of A Star Is Born is excellent, although clumsily executed. The Technicolor cinematography is good, and Jean Louis does his usual excellent job of costume design. Judy Garland gives a fine performance and shows herself to be a strong singer, which leads us to the minus side. Judy does her best with the songs but the music score is flat, to put it mildly. There is no Rogers and Hammerstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber quality material here. The Roger Edens and Conrad Sallinger score for Meet Me in St. Louis completely blows the score for A Star Is Born away. If you enjoy hearing Judy sing, watch Meet Me in St. Louis or The Harvey Girls as those films showcases what she can do with good material. The other major defect of this film is poor artistic design. Being a big Hitchcock fan myself, I appreciate good sets and this film does not have them. The weak music score and poor sets for a musical are most likely the result of this film having been made at Warner Bros. instead of MGM. Warner simply did not have the right mix of talent necessary to do musicals; another excellent example of a Warner musical flop is Night and Day, where even Cole Porter songs can't save it. Warner could not pull off making a musical any more than MGM could ever pull off making a film noir. A Star is Born is still watchable. James Mason saw to that, but Judy Garland's performance is wasted by having forced her to sing poor music.